Band Saw Recommendations

[Pinewood Daddy]

The saw in the Ryobi BS902, replaced by a newer model. $99 at Home Depot. It works great for me.

I just purchased this saw myself. I have it setup and it cuts, but by no means straight. I think it just needs to be adjusted, but unfortunately I don't know enough about ban saws to do this properly. Did you do any special adjustments to yours after setting it up out of the box?

-Nitro Dan

I adjusted the blade guides as instructed in the manual and it didn't cut straight for me either. I bought a new blade at Home Depot and it cuts great!! Unfortunately because of the short length of the blade you won't find a good skip tooth blade for it, just cheap ones, unless you know someone who can weld you a blade.

[Go Bubba Go]

I adjusted the blade guides as instructed in the manual and it didn't cut straight for me either. I bought a new blade at Home Depot and it cuts great!! Unfortunately because of the short length of the blade you won't find a good skip tooth blade for it, just cheap ones, unless you know someone who can weld you a blade.

Found basically the same results.

Frankly, I do all the "first cuts" for my boys myself, cutting "freehand" rather than with a fence. Esp. when cutting a full thickness block, the blade wanders a bit too much to get a straight cut when using a fence. With a straight line and a little patience, we get pretty good straight cuts (finish off with a few seconds on the belt sander for good measure).

With the "second" and "third" cuts, etc. the material is then very thin and the blade doesn't wander so much. At this point, however, we are usually "freehanding" to cut the various curves and shapes.

Long way of saying I don't use my fence much.

Bubba

[Pinewood Daddy]

Long way of saying I don't use my fence much.

I agree, I don't use the fence much. We use my wedge cutting fixture, when possible. The blade will wander some as it cut through nearly parallel grain.

[woodworx]

I freehand also, My bandsaw has a laser that shines rite down the blade. This makes it easy to make sure the block is aligned for them long cuts